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November 25th, 2015
All My Children Cast Members Share Sentiments On The Death of David Canary

Courtesy/ABC

It has been a heartbreaking day for the daytime community to learn that their beloved David Canary (All My Children’s Adam & Stuart Chandler) had died at age 77.

Throughout the day, numerous All My Children cast members have posted tweets and messages on social media upon learning the news of this five-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor’s passing. Canary died last week in Connecticut. Below are just a sampling, and On-Air On-Soaps will continue to bring you more reactions from colleagues and cast members of Canary’s as they come in.

Debbi Morgan (Angie) tweeted: “OMG! I’m just hearing that my fellow castmate , the legendary David Canary passed away & I’m beyond heartbroken! Will miss u so much, David! My heart goes out 2 the Canary’s. David was one of the kindest & humble spirits I’ve ever had the good fortune of working with. God Bless!”

Susan Lucci (Erica) posted on Instragram: “I just learned the news that the wonderful David Canary has passed away–I saw it posted on Kelly Ripa”s site. My deepest and heartfelt sympathy to his wife Mo and his children, Christopher and Katie. Rest in peace, David–you warm and generous, talented and fabulous man, actor and friend! I am so grateful to have known you–and to have had the privilege of sharing the AMC stage with you! I will never forget you. ❤️”

Vincent Irizarry (Ex-David, now Deimus, DAYS) posted: “Too soon. Oh, way too soon… What a dear, dear man; a true gentleman in every sense of the word. So saddened by the loss of this wonderful man and great talent. To work opposite him, as much as I had been privileged to do throughout all those years, was synonymous to watching a master class in progress. The living embodiment of the term consummate professional, but even more important, a gentle spirit and soul; kind and generous to all he came into contact with. I will forever remember you lovingly, Mr. Canary, with equal parts gratitude and unending respect, blessed as I was to have had the joy of knowing you and working beside you. Thank you for making our world a much more beautiful place… RIP ‪#‎DavidCanary‬”

John Callahan (Edmund) posted on facebook: : “I am saddened by the passing of fellow AMC cast mate David Canary .. He was the consummate actor.. Talented , humble , classy , and a friend to all.. My deepest sympathies to Maureen & your family .. He not only entertained millions; he showed hundreds of actors how to perform with grace … RIP”

ABC released this statment Tuesday night: “For more than two decades David Canary defined daytime drama on ABC. Our hearts go out to his family and we mourn his passing.”

What do you think of the reactions and thoughts shared by of some of the most notable from the cast of All My Children, who worked with David Canary during his extraordinary run in Pine Valley? Share your thoughts below!

Mr. Canary could never play a “typical villain” because his heart always came through…as Adam. Stuart just took that personal warmth further. It was clear he defined “gentleman” and I’m glad to know he was such a wonderful example to his colleagues. God bless his family as we, his fans quietly smile at the memory of such integrity.

Ah, that’s sweet and true.
I remember Stuart’s first love Cindy, who later died of AIDS.
They had a very touching and romantic love story. I do believe that AMC was the first soap to deal with the subject of AIDS.

OMG! I am shocked. It is so sad to lose such a fantastic, artistic actor . I have welcome David into my house every episode since 1977 when I used to record it on the Betamax tape. My condolences to his family both on screen and off. I’m sure all of your hearts are breaking by this knowledge, all I can say is that time does heal all wounds . He is in the pearly gates of heaven is overlooking all of us with such love. Bless you David and thank you for bringing us such great joy.

So sorry to hear. As far back as my memory goes, I knew Adam Chandler; I watched Adam when I was 12 years old. And now over 20 years later, I still miss seeing him. On the reboot, he seemed like he wasn’t himself and I wondered how he was health wise. He is missed.

My first impressions of David Canary on AMC was back MANY years ago when Cady McClain had first come on AMC and there was the triangle between Adam/Dixie/Tad. Even when you hated Adam for his actions, or loved Stuart because of his kind heartedness, David Canary was a masterful performer. He made you laugh, cry, rage and care for the characters he played. So sorry to see you go.

David Canary didn’t win 5 Emmy awards by accident. He was enormously talented and a pleasure to watch, which I did since his debut in the ’80s. He used to say that Adam was just misunderstood, with a twinkle in his eye, to justify Adam’s actions. The truth is, it’s hard to make the audience like or root for a villain, but Mr. Canary found a way for the audience to connect for Adam and at least like him, even if we didn’t like what he was doing all the time. He was brilliant. I don’t think Daytime will see his kind again.

This is terribly sad. David Canary is a true legend. His performances from 1987-around 1990 proved that he could anything. ANYTHING. He could reduce an audience to tears, and make them overcome with compassion for Stuart. He could induce terror and anger as Adam. He was my favorite AMC actor.

I’d love to hear from some of the AMC stars who worked much more extensively than those quoted above. Cady McClain, Julia Barr, Susan Lucci, Michael E Knight…. you know, the heart and soul of AMC. Those are the actors I always loved seeing Mr Canary work with.

Susan Lucci is quoted above, Mindy. I like Vincent Izzery’s comments the most–he nails it beautifully.
Michael E Knight does not have a Twitter account but I am sure he has something lovely and poignant to say. Knight once spoke of Canary’s acting ability as being brilliant and a marvel to behold. In particular, MEK spoke of watching Canary play Adam who was pretending to be Stuart. Adam, the savvy, high powered, domineering CEO of a Fortune 500 company, was well adept at impersonating his sweet, innocent and gentle twin brother Stuart. However, some slip of the tongue, some Adam mannerism would slip through alerting the observant viewer that this was Adam, not Stuart. Or sometimes, Adam would forget to tuck in the left collar into his sweater vest the way Stuart did. I had read somewhere that the shirt collar/vest idea was David Canary’s. Yes, David Canary could play subtle (something of which many of our current soap actors are unable to do) and we will not see his like again.

From ABC…”For more than two decades David defined daytime drama on ABC.”…No one can be another David Canary, but hopefully, maybe, ABC will will understand and use their tribute statement to really bring back into our soaps what many of us have been missing the last few years.

David was truly a talented actor with a true love and passion for the business . He will truly be missed by all who had the privilege to either watch him on screen or come in contact with him on stage.

RIP David. I remember watching you from your first day on AMC until your last…makes me miss AMC all over again.

On a side note, with Tyra Banks leaving FABLife, ABC should take a queue, cancel this show, and bring back a soap. The network should have never canceled AMC and OLTL. My first suggestion would be to bring back these shows. However, with Prospect Park in that mix, I doubt that would ever happen – and will there ever be any resolution to this? So, why doesn’t ABC just create a new soap set in Pennsylvania in a fictitious town that was close to Pine Valley (AMC) Llanview (OLTL) and Corinth (Loving)? That way, should there ever be any resolution to the ABC/PP mess, then former characters of those show could perhaps show up on this new soap.

I so agree with both of you. AMC and OLTL should have never been exited from the scene. Nothing has worked out well since. Just awful choice. ABC should settle or pay out Prospect Park and bring both soaps back. Such fine acting from David Canary. He put just the right spin on Adam and Stuart. Yet we also got to see his softer side and how much he loved Stuart and his children, wives. You could be mad at Adam but he would always do or say something to redeem himself. RIP David Canary. Thanks for the memories and reminding us all how much we miss All My Children. “Sigh”

If you watch stage or screen performances long enough, you quickly learn to determine the good actors from the bad, the adequate ones from the excellent, and then you can surely recognize The Great Ones. Mr. Canary was one of the Great Ones.

He was Daytime’s Brando- blessed w/ serious Swagger & sincere Sensitivity. His Adam/Stuart portrayals were like a Master Class in the Craft of Acting. His range was evident in the number of Emmy awards he won. And, like Brando, you only had to see him once to remember his impact. He was THAT Great!

Was very sad hearing of David Canary’s passing. Loved him on AMC. How he mastered and swept the Daytime Emmys playing Adam and Stuart. Two very distinct characters of which he nailed perfectly, day after day…. RIP Mr. Canary.

He came into our homes and entertained us with his unique portayal of the Chandler twins. The sentiment here shows that he was a wonderful man. It is a very sad day . This must be hard on all of you. too . RIP David

I gret actor who handled 2 parts for years. Good role model for others. I’m not an actor nor a soap fan but I remember watching bonanza with my grandmother. She said he was on her stories. I saw him act each time my wife watched the AMC shows and my mom and my sisters. Drove me nuts with soaps but he was a good actor. Got me thru some days when I was ill on the couch and my mom would watch this stuff. Great man sad to see him go.

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